YOU have to take the responsibility, with the right

I might have angered some people in my "Juvenile Justice in America" class tonight.

I'm okay with that.

It's my right. For the most part, I didn't disagree with what they (including the instructor) had to say, right up until classmates said they felt media should be somehow "regulated" to lessen the negative impacts on children.

That's where I diverge.

Do I think most of the so-called "entertainment" teens consume is ridiculous? Yes.

Do I wish teens paid attention to better, cleaner influences? Yes.

Do I believe our some of teen "idols" are abhorrent? Yes.

We watched "PBS Frontline: The Merchants of Cool" tonight in class. It's a 2001 documentary about all of the research that goes into the machine that is Viacom (MTV and just about every other cable channel), the four other major conglomerates that control media and message in this country and what how that research affects teen spending habits.

The show highlights scenes from the debauchery that is MTV's Spring Break each year. It touches on teens who buy into rage rock groups like Limp Bizkit and Insane Clown Posse. (Their fans hate the corporate machine, but like all "cool" things, eventually corporate America gets its hands on "alternative" guys, too.

You think the marketing was insidious back in 2001? I'd love to see an update of this topic today with social networking implications examined.

Most of you know, I don't have kids, so understand that's the point of view I'm coming from. That said, I kinda think it's the parents' responsibility to debrief with kids on what they're seeing. I'm not sure I'd want my own children listening to songs and watching shows fraught with awful language that also completely devalue women. I'd hope I could help them understand that that sort of thing doesn't fit in with our family's value system.

But, you know what, it fits in with some people's values. I know some of those people. If that's what they want to do, I can't control it and that's fine.

I think the other students got a little snippy when I said that society CAN'T regulate media - it's against the law.

My classmates mostly seem to think that it's society's responsibility to regulate the media children watch and the clothes they wear. (In fact, someone even spoke Tipper Gore's name: "Whatever happened to those sticker label things she wanted to do?" Um, the labels are on all "explicit" CDs today.)

But here's the thing: You can do say, think, believe and produce what you want in this country. The first amendment gives us that right. Everybody has it. In fact, some people I completely disagree with have the first amendment, too, but I don't have to listen to them if I don't want to.

My problem with "society taking responsibility for this trash" is that who decides who is in charge? What if I'm in charge, and I don't think anyone who has blue eyes should be allowed to say or do anything?

Society doesn't need to take the responsibility. Parents and families need to take responsibility for what their children are consuming. Be their parents, not their "cool friends" and tell them you don't want them listening to it.